Selected Papers from the 5th Venoms to Drugs Meeting

A special issue of Toxins (ISSN 2072-6651). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Venoms".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2015) | Viewed by 92300

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The 5th Venoms to Drugs Meeting will be held at The Mantra, Kingscliff in NSW from October 19-24, 2014. The conference will focus on venoms from cone snails, scorpions, spiders, snakes and other species. These venoms continue to provide an immense reservoir of potent bioactive peptides that target specific enzymes, ion channels and receptors. As such, they represent major sources of lead compounds for both the development of pharmacological tools and novel drugs. The special issue aims to bring together active scholars and researchers to present their current scholarly work in venoms to drugs .

For additional links to the conference which you may find useful:
http://venomstodrugs.com/index.html


Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • venom
  • drug
  • snail
  • spider
  • snake
  • peptide
  • ion channel
  • receptor

Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

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2437 KiB  
Article
Three Peptide Modulators of the Human Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel 1.7, an Important Analgesic Target, from the Venom of an Australian Tarantula
by Chun Yuen Chow, Ben Cristofori-Armstrong, Eivind A. B. Undheim, Glenn F. King and Lachlan D. Rash
Toxins 2015, 7(7), 2494-2513; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins7072494 - 30 Jun 2015
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 8640
Abstract
Voltage-gated sodium (NaV) channels are responsible for propagating action potentials in excitable cells. NaV1.7 plays a crucial role in the human pain signalling pathway and it is an important therapeutic target for treatment of chronic pain. Numerous spider venom [...] Read more.
Voltage-gated sodium (NaV) channels are responsible for propagating action potentials in excitable cells. NaV1.7 plays a crucial role in the human pain signalling pathway and it is an important therapeutic target for treatment of chronic pain. Numerous spider venom peptides have been shown to modulate the activity of NaV channels and these peptides represent a rich source of research tools and therapeutic lead molecules. The aim of this study was to determine the diversity of NaV1.7-active peptides in the venom of an Australian Phlogius sp. tarantula and to characterise their potency and subtype selectivity. We isolated three novel peptides, μ-TRTX-Phlo1a, -Phlo1b and -Phlo2a, that inhibit human NaV1.7 (hNaV1.7). Phlo1a and Phlo1b are 35-residue peptides that differ by one amino acid and belong in NaSpTx family 2. The partial sequence of Phlo2a revealed extensive similarity with ProTx-II from NaSpTx family 3. Phlo1a and Phlo1b inhibit hNaV1.7 with IC50 values of 459 and 360 nM, respectively, with only minor inhibitory activity on rat NaV1.2 and hNaV1.5. Although similarly potent at hNaV1.7 (IC50 333 nM), Phlo2a was less selective, as it also potently inhibited rNaV1.2 and hNaV1.5. All three peptides cause a depolarising shift in the voltage-dependence of hNaV1.7 activation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 5th Venoms to Drugs Meeting)
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1542 KiB  
Article
Development of Plate Reader and On-Line Microfluidic Screening to Identify Ligands of the 5-Hydroxytryptamine Binding Protein in Venoms
by Reka A. Otvos, Janaki Krishnamoorthy Iyer, René Van Elk, Chris Ulens, Wilfried M. A. Niessen, Govert W. Somsen, R. Manjunatha Kini, August B. Smit and Jeroen Kool
Toxins 2015, 7(7), 2336-2353; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins7072336 - 24 Jun 2015
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 5320
Abstract
The 5-HT3 receptor is a ligand-gated ion channel, which is expressed in the nervous system. Its antagonists are used clinically for treatment of postoperative- and radiotherapy-induced emesis and irritable bowel syndrome. In order to better understand the structure and function of the [...] Read more.
The 5-HT3 receptor is a ligand-gated ion channel, which is expressed in the nervous system. Its antagonists are used clinically for treatment of postoperative- and radiotherapy-induced emesis and irritable bowel syndrome. In order to better understand the structure and function of the 5-HT3 receptor, and to allow for compound screening at this receptor, recently a serotonin binding protein (5HTBP) was engineered with the Acetylcholine Binding Protein as template. In this study, a fluorescence enhancement assay for 5HTBP ligands was developed in plate-reader format and subsequently used in an on-line microfluidic format. Both assay types were validated using an existing radioligand binding assay. The on-line microfluidic assay was coupled to HPLC via a post-column split which allowed parallel coupling to a mass spectrometer to collect MS data. This high-resolution screening (HRS) system is well suitable for compound mixture analysis. As a proof of principle, the venoms of Dendroapsis polylepis, Pseudonaja affinis and Pseudonaja inframacula snakes were screened and the accurate masses of the found bioactives were established. To demonstrate the subsequent workflow towards structural identification of bioactive proteins and peptides, the partial amino acid sequence of one of the bioactives from the Pseudonaja affinis venom was determined using a bottom-up proteomics approach. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 5th Venoms to Drugs Meeting)
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1718 KiB  
Article
Firing the Sting: Chemically Induced Discharge of Cnidae Reveals Novel Proteins and Peptides from Box Jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri) Venom
by Mahdokht Jouiaei, Nicholas R. Casewell, Angel A. Yanagihara, Amanda Nouwens, Bronwen W. Cribb, Darryl Whitehead, Timothy N. W. Jackson, Syed A. Ali, Simon C. Wagstaff, Ivan Koludarov, Paul Alewood, Jay Hansen and Bryan G. Fry
Toxins 2015, 7(3), 936-950; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins7030936 - 18 Mar 2015
Cited by 48 | Viewed by 15191
Abstract
Cnidarian venom research has lagged behind other toxinological fields due to technical difficulties in recovery of the complex venom from the microscopic nematocysts. Here we report a newly developed rapid, repeatable and cost effective technique of venom preparation, using ethanol to induce nematocyst [...] Read more.
Cnidarian venom research has lagged behind other toxinological fields due to technical difficulties in recovery of the complex venom from the microscopic nematocysts. Here we report a newly developed rapid, repeatable and cost effective technique of venom preparation, using ethanol to induce nematocyst discharge and to recover venom contents in one step. Our model species was the Australian box jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri), which has a notable impact on public health. By utilizing scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy, we examined nematocyst external morphology before and after ethanol treatment and verified nematocyst discharge. Further, to investigate nematocyst content or “venom” recovery, we utilized both top-down and bottom-up transcriptomics–proteomics approaches and compared the proteome profile of this new ethanol recovery based method to a previously reported high activity and recovery protocol, based upon density purified intact cnidae and pressure induced disruption. In addition to recovering previously characterized box jellyfish toxins, including CfTX-A/B and CfTX-1, we recovered putative metalloproteases and novel expression of a small serine protease inhibitor. This study not only reveals a much more complex toxin profile of Australian box jellyfish venom but also suggests that ethanol extraction method could augment future cnidarian venom proteomics research efforts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 5th Venoms to Drugs Meeting)
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739 KiB  
Article
Fossilized Venom: The Unusually Conserved Venom Profiles of Heloderma Species (Beaded Lizards and Gila Monsters)
by Ivan Koludarov, Timothy N. W. Jackson, Kartik Sunagar, Amanda Nouwens, Iwan Hendrikx and Bryan G. Fry
Toxins 2014, 6(12), 3582-3595; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins6123582 - 22 Dec 2014
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 9597
Abstract
Research into snake venoms has revealed extensive variation at all taxonomic levels. Lizard venoms, however, have received scant research attention in general, and no studies of intraclade variation in lizard venom composition have been attempted to date. Despite their iconic status and proven [...] Read more.
Research into snake venoms has revealed extensive variation at all taxonomic levels. Lizard venoms, however, have received scant research attention in general, and no studies of intraclade variation in lizard venom composition have been attempted to date. Despite their iconic status and proven usefulness in drug design and discovery, highly venomous helodermatid lizards (gila monsters and beaded lizards) have remained neglected by toxinological research. Proteomic comparisons of venoms of three helodermatid lizards in this study has unravelled an unusual similarity in venom-composition, despite the long evolutionary time (~30 million years) separating H. suspectum from the other two species included in this study (H. exasperatum and H. horridum). Moreover, several genes encoding the major helodermatid toxins appeared to be extremely well-conserved under the influence of negative selection (but with these results regarded as preliminary due to the scarcity of available sequences). While the feeding ecologies of all species of helodermatid lizard are broadly similar, there are significant morphological differences between species, which impact upon relative niche occupation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 5th Venoms to Drugs Meeting)
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Review

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398 KiB  
Review
Ancient Venom Systems: A Review on Cnidaria Toxins
by Mahdokht Jouiaei, Angel A. Yanagihara, Bruno Madio, Timo J. Nevalainen, Paul F. Alewood and Bryan G. Fry
Toxins 2015, 7(6), 2251-2271; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins7062251 - 18 Jun 2015
Cited by 136 | Viewed by 19357
Abstract
Cnidarians are the oldest extant lineage of venomous animals. Despite their simple anatomy, they are capable of subduing or repelling prey and predator species that are far more complex and recently evolved. Utilizing specialized penetrating nematocysts, cnidarians inject the nematocyst content or “venom” [...] Read more.
Cnidarians are the oldest extant lineage of venomous animals. Despite their simple anatomy, they are capable of subduing or repelling prey and predator species that are far more complex and recently evolved. Utilizing specialized penetrating nematocysts, cnidarians inject the nematocyst content or “venom” that initiates toxic and immunological reactions in the envenomated organism. These venoms contain enzymes, potent pore forming toxins, and neurotoxins. Enzymes include lipolytic and proteolytic proteins that catabolize prey tissues. Cnidarian pore forming toxins self-assemble to form robust membrane pores that can cause cell death via osmotic lysis. Neurotoxins exhibit rapid ion channel specific activities. In addition, certain cnidarian venoms contain or induce the release of host vasodilatory biogenic amines such as serotonin, histamine, bunodosine and caissarone accelerating the pathogenic effects of other venom enzymes and porins. The cnidarian attacking/defending mechanism is fast and efficient, and massive envenomation of humans may result in death, in some cases within a few minutes to an hour after sting. The complexity of venom components represents a unique therapeutic challenge and probably reflects the ancient evolutionary history of the cnidarian venom system. Thus, they are invaluable as a therapeutic target for sting treatment or as lead compounds for drug design. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 5th Venoms to Drugs Meeting)
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406 KiB  
Review
Bioinformatics-Aided Venomics
by Quentin Kaas and David J. Craik
Toxins 2015, 7(6), 2159-2187; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins7062159 - 11 Jun 2015
Cited by 33 | Viewed by 9580
Abstract
Venomics is a modern approach that combines transcriptomics and proteomics to explore the toxin content of venoms. This review will give an overview of computational approaches that have been created to classify and consolidate venomics data, as well as algorithms that have helped [...] Read more.
Venomics is a modern approach that combines transcriptomics and proteomics to explore the toxin content of venoms. This review will give an overview of computational approaches that have been created to classify and consolidate venomics data, as well as algorithms that have helped discovery and analysis of toxin nucleic acid and protein sequences, toxin three-dimensional structures and toxin functions. Bioinformatics is used to tackle specific challenges associated with the identification and annotations of toxins. Recognizing toxin transcript sequences among second generation sequencing data cannot rely only on basic sequence similarity because toxins are highly divergent. Mass spectrometry sequencing of mature toxins is challenging because toxins can display a large number of post-translational modifications. Identifying the mature toxin region in toxin precursor sequences requires the prediction of the cleavage sites of proprotein convertases, most of which are unknown or not well characterized. Tracing the evolutionary relationships between toxins should consider specific mechanisms of rapid evolution as well as interactions between predatory animals and prey. Rapidly determining the activity of toxins is the main bottleneck in venomics discovery, but some recent bioinformatics and molecular modeling approaches give hope that accurate predictions of toxin specificity could be made in the near future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 5th Venoms to Drugs Meeting)
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811 KiB  
Review
Natural Compounds Interacting with Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors: From Low-Molecular Weight Ones to Peptides and Proteins
by Denis Kudryavtsev, Irina Shelukhina, Catherine Vulfius, Tatyana Makarieva, Valentin Stonik, Maxim Zhmak, Igor Ivanov, Igor Kasheverov, Yuri Utkin and Victor Tsetlin
Toxins 2015, 7(5), 1683-1701; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins7051683 - 14 May 2015
Cited by 28 | Viewed by 8650
Abstract
Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) fulfill a variety of functions making identification and analysis of nAChR subtypes a challenging task. Traditional instruments for nAChR research are d-tubocurarine, snake venom protein α-bungarotoxin (α-Bgt), and α-conotoxins, neurotoxic peptides from Conus snails. Various new compounds of different [...] Read more.
Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) fulfill a variety of functions making identification and analysis of nAChR subtypes a challenging task. Traditional instruments for nAChR research are d-tubocurarine, snake venom protein α-bungarotoxin (α-Bgt), and α-conotoxins, neurotoxic peptides from Conus snails. Various new compounds of different structural classes also interacting with nAChRs have been recently identified. Among the low-molecular weight compounds are alkaloids pibocin, varacin and makaluvamines C and G. 6-Bromohypaphorine from the mollusk Hermissenda crassicornis does not bind to Torpedo nAChR but behaves as an agonist on human α7 nAChR. To get more selective α-conotoxins, computer modeling of their complexes with acetylcholine-binding proteins and distinct nAChRs was used. Several novel three-finger neurotoxins targeting nAChRs were described and α-Bgt inhibition of GABA-A receptors was discovered. Information on the mechanisms of nAChR interactions with the three-finger proteins of the Ly6 family was found. Snake venom phospholipases A2 were recently found to inhibit different nAChR subtypes. Blocking of nAChRs in Lymnaea stagnalis neurons was shown for venom C-type lectin-like proteins, appearing to be the largest molecules capable to interact with the receptor. A huge nAChR molecule sensible to conformational rearrangements accommodates diverse binding sites recognizable by structurally very different compounds. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 5th Venoms to Drugs Meeting)
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1057 KiB  
Review
Bioactive Components in Fish Venoms
by Rebekah Ziegman and Paul Alewood
Toxins 2015, 7(5), 1497-1531; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins7051497 - 30 Apr 2015
Cited by 61 | Viewed by 14470
Abstract
Animal venoms are widely recognized excellent resources for the discovery of novel drug leads and physiological tools. Most are comprised of a large number of components, of which the enzymes, small peptides, and proteins are studied for their important bioactivities. However, in spite [...] Read more.
Animal venoms are widely recognized excellent resources for the discovery of novel drug leads and physiological tools. Most are comprised of a large number of components, of which the enzymes, small peptides, and proteins are studied for their important bioactivities. However, in spite of there being over 2000 venomous fish species, piscine venoms have been relatively underrepresented in the literature thus far. Most studies have explored whole or partially fractioned venom, revealing broad pharmacology, which includes cardiovascular, neuromuscular, cytotoxic, inflammatory, and nociceptive activities. Several large proteinaceous toxins, such as stonustoxin, verrucotoxin, and Sp-CTx, have been isolated from scorpaenoid fish. These form pores in cell membranes, resulting in cell death and creating a cascade of reactions that result in many, but not all, of the physiological symptoms observed from envenomation. Additionally, Natterins, a novel family of toxins possessing kininogenase activity have been found in toadfish venom. A variety of smaller protein toxins, as well as a small number of peptides, enzymes, and non-proteinaceous molecules have also been isolated from a range of fish venoms, but most remain poorly characterized. Many other bioactive fish venom components remain to be discovered and investigated. These represent an untapped treasure of potentially useful molecules. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 5th Venoms to Drugs Meeting)
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